Eckhart Tolle's Power of NowPosted by Shalini - Oct 2016

I tried several techniques until I found The Power of now by Eckhart Tolle. In this simple yet powerful book, he explains how focusing on the present moment brings inner stillness and peace. Below are extracts from Practicing the Power of Now. Enjoy the simplicity with which he guides us to develop present moment awareness. We regain awareness of Being that leads us to experiencing enlightenment.

Be the observer
The greatest obstacle to experiencing your connectedness is identification with your mind, which causes thought to become compulsive. Not to be able to stop thinking is a dreadful affliction, but we don’t realise this because almost everyone is suffering from it, so it is considered normal. The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. The beginning of freedom is the realisation that you are not the thinker. Be present as the observer and watch your mind. The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated.

Listen to the voice inside your head
Pay particular attention to any repetitive thought patterns. As you listen to the thought it loses its power over you and quickly subsides. Give your fullest attention to any routine activity. Every time you walk up and down the stairs pay close attention to every step, every movement, even your breathing. Be totally present. When you wash your hands, pay attention to all the sense perceptions: the sound and feel of the water, the movement of your hands, the scent of the soap and so on.

Fear of the future
Fear is always of something that might happen, not of something that is happening now. You are here and now while your mind is in the future. This creates an anxiety gap. You can always cope with the present but you cannot cope with something that is only a mind projection. Realise deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life. Always say ‘Yes’ to the present moment. Life is Now.

Wherever you are, be totally there

Are you stressed? Are you so busy getting to the future that the present is reduced to a means of getting there? Stress is caused by being here but wanting to be there. It is a split that tears you apart inside. Does the past
take up a great deal of your attention? Do you frequently think or talk about it either positively or negatively? Then you are not only reinforcing a false sense of self but also helping to accelerate your body’s aging process by creating an accumulation of past in your psyche. Die to the past moment.
You don’t need it. Only refer to it when it is absolutely relevant to the present.

Strengthening the immune system
This is a simple but powerful self-healing meditation that you can do whenever you feel the need to boost your immune system. When you are unoccupied for a few minutes, especially the last thing at night before falling asleep or the first thing in the morning before getting up, ‘flood’ your body with consciousness. Close your eyes. Lie flat on your back. Choose different parts of your body to focus your attention on briefly at first: hands, feet, arms, legs, abdomen and so on. Feel the life energy inside those parts as intensely as possible. Stay with each part for 15 seconds or so. Then let your attention run through the body like a wave a few times from feet to head and back again. After that, feel the inner body in its totality, as a single field of energy. Be intensely present in every cell of your body during that time.